Jamie Marie Gilson (née Chisam; July 4, 1933 – February 11, 2020) was an American author of twenty-one children’s books.
[8] Sam Mott, the sixth-grade narrator of her book Do Bananas Chew Gum?, comes to terms with his dyslexia, and Harvey Trumble, a seventh-grader, encounters some difficulties trying to Americanize a young Vietnamese refugee in Hello, My Name is Scrambled Eggs.
Drawing on her own experience as an award-winner at the Pillsbury Bake-Off in 1954 for her "American Piece-A-Pie" recipe,[9] her Can't Catch Me, I'm the Gingerbread Man features twelve-year-old Mitch McDandel, the only male contestant in a national bake-a-thon.
[12] In 1981, Gilson received the Carl Sandburg Award from the Friends of the Chicago Public Library for her book Do Bananas Chew Gum?
[13] Previous honorees include David Mamet, John Updike, Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Kurt Vonnegut and Joyce Carol Oates.